Sliding shelving



g- 3, 1967 K. K. KESLING 3,334,954

SLIDING SHELVING Filed Jan. 13, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. KEITH K.KESLING BY l ATTORNEY A g- 1967 K. K. KESLING SLIDING SHELVING 3Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Jan. 13. 1966 INVENTOR. KEITH A. KESLING ATTORNEYUnited States Patent 3,334,954 SLIDING SHELVING Keith K. Kesling,Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., acorporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 13, 1966, Ser. No. 520,455 2 Claims.(Cl. 312304) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In the preferred form, thecabinethas one fixed horizontal half shelf extending over and supportedby one half of the cabinet. It is provided with a supporting bracketsuspended from the rear wall serving both as a support and a side railfor the unsupported edge at the middle. This half shelf slidablysupports a laterally movable half shelf extending laterally as much asdesired.

This invention relates to storage cabinets and more particularly to therefrigerated storage of various sized articles including tall bottleswhich require greater vertical height than the normal space between thesupporting shelves.

In household refrigerators there may be varying quantities of tallbottles to be stored. One attempt to provide room for varying quantitiesof tall bottles is illustrated in Patent 2,010,927, issued Aug. 13,1935. In this patent one shelf section is slideable rearwardly, beneathor within another, to provide varying amounts of space for tall bottlesat the front of the shelf. This was not a popular solution because thepresence of tall bottles at the front of the shelves obstructed accessto the space upon the shelves behind the bottles.

It is an object of this invention to provide a shelving arrangementwhich provides space for varying quantities of tall bottles withoutdiminishing any more than necessary the remaining shelf area and alsowithout obstructing any other articles on the shelve-s.

This and other objects are attained in the form shown in the drawings inwhich a normally stationary shelf section extending substantially fromthe middle of the cabinet to one side wall has rear guide meansextending within its rear edge from one side wall of the cabinet to theother and a front guide means beneath and coextensive with the frontedge for slideably supporting a half shelf for lateral movement invarying quantities toward and away from the adjacent side wall. Thishalf shelf may be moved away from the side wall of the cabinet only farenough to provide sufficient room to accommodate all of the tall bottlesto be stored therein, leaving the remainder of the half shelf and all ofthe remaining shelf area of the other shelf section and the remainingshelves of the cabinet unobstructed for the storage of the articlesbetween the shelves. The edge of the normally stationary shelf sectionat the middle of the cabinet is supported by an upwardly extendingbracket which has a removable connection to the rear wall and alsoserves as a side rail.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings wherein preferred embodiments of the present invention areclearly shown.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a front view of a refrigerator storage cabinet with the doorOpen illustrating one form of my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a transverse horizontal sectional view taken along the line22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a front view partly in section of the "Ice shelving shown inFIGURE 2 and adjacent portions of the side wall shown in FIGURE 2 takenalong the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged side vertical sectional view taken along thelines 44 of FIGURES 2 and 3;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary enlarged transverse sectional view taken alongthe lines 5-5 of FIGURES 2 and 6;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the lines 6-6 ofFIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a vertical transverse enlarged sectional view taken alongthe lines 7-7 of FIGURE 2; and,

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged fragmentary front view of the top of the supportbracket together with the holder thereof shown in dot-dash outline.

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to FIGURE 1, thereis shown a refrigerated storage cabinet 20 having top and bottom Walls22 and 24 and side walls 26 and 28 and a rear wall 30. Below the bottomwall 24 is a-machinery compartment 32 containing the conventional motorcompressor unit as well as the condenser and at the top is an evaporator34 containing a compartment for the storage of frozen ice and alsohaving surfaces which cool the air within the compartment 36 which isenclosed by the walls of the cabinet. The front opening of the storagecompartment is closed by a conventional refrigerator door 38. Thestorage compartment is provided with two conventional storage shelves 40and 42 upon which articles may be stored. Articles may also be storedupon the bottom wall 24.

According to my invention to provide storage for normal size articlesupon an upper shelf between the shelf 40 and the evaporator 34, Iprovide a half shelf 44 which is supported by a peg 46 upon the sidewall 28 and a peg 48 protruding forwardly from the rear wall 30. Thisshelf has a frame member 50 forming its rear edge extendingsubstantially between the side walls 26 and 28. This frame member isalso supported on the left side by the peg 52. The shelf 44 also has afront frame member 54 coextensive with its front edge. Between the frontand rear frame members 50 and 54 are a plurality of spaced bars 55forming the principle supporting structure of the shelf section 44. Toprovide added support for the shelf section 44 at the left edge, Iprovide a bracket 56 which is bonded to the rear and front structures 50and 54 adjacent the center of the cabinet. This bracket has a T-shapedupper extension 58 which hooks beneath the C-shaped bracket 60 which isfastened to the rear wall 30 of the cabinet. This bracket 60 providessupport for the left front corner of the shelf section 44 so thatadequate support is provided for articles placed in any location uponthis shelf section.

The rear and front edge frame members 50 and 54 are grooved asillustrated in FIGURE 7 to provide guideways therein, extendingthroughout their entire length. Slide-ably mounted in the guideways ofthe frame members 50 and 54 are the rear and front rails 62 and 64 of ahalf shelf 66 having a plurality of supporting bars 68 extending fromfront to rear between them to form the shelf supporting surface. Theguideways in the rear and front frame members 50 and 54 are providedbeneath the bars 55 of the shelf section 44 and the bars 68 of the halfshelf 66 will slide beneath the bars 55 as illustrated in FIGURE 7.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the left edge 70 of the half shelf 66 has beenmoved to the right beneath the shelf section 44 far enough to provideroom for two fore and aft rows of tall bottles designated by thereference character 72. If only one row of tall bottles is present, theleft edge 70 of the half shelf 66 may be moved over substantially intocontact with the bottles and the space previously used for the right rowof bottles can now 3 be filled with smaller articles both on the shelf40 below and on the exposed section of the half shelf 66 above. If notall bottles are in the refrigerator, the half shelf 66 may be slidsubstantially to the side wall 26 as illustrated by the dot and dashlines 74. For providing adequate support in this condition, the sideWall 26 is provided with a shelf peg 76 substantially opposite the shelfpeg 46 for providing additional support for the half shelf 66. However,the half shelf 66 is provided with adequate support at other times bythe support provided by the guideways in the front and rear edge framemembers of the shelf 44 and by the bracket 56. Thus, the half shelf 66may be moved laterally to any extent necessary to accommodate tallbottles while full shelving is provided for the remaining space withinthe storage compartment including the portion of the half shelf movedsubstantially in contact with the adjacent faces of the bottles and theremaining shelving within the cabinet.

While the embodiments of the present invention as herein disclosed,constitute preferred forms, it is to be understood that other formsmight be adopted.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A storage cabinet including upright side and upright rear walls andupper and lower walls enclosing a storage compartment, said cabinethaving a front door opening and a front door for closing said dooropening, a first rectangular horizontal shelf section located inside thestorage compartment having one side thereof supported by the adjacentside wall of said cabinet and having its rear side supported by the rearwall of the cabinet, a second rectangular horizontal shelf section, saidfirst shelf section having lateral guide and support means forsupporting and guiding said second shelf section for lateral movementtoward and away from the opposite side of said storage compartment, saidfirst shelf section also having a third side adjacent the middle of saidcabinet, wherein the improvement comprises a bracket extending from andsupported by the rear wall and extending above and along the edge ofsaid third side and connected to said third side for supporting saidthird side and for providing a rail extending above said first shelfsection for preventing articles from falling off the edge of said thirdside.

2. A storage compartment as defined in claim 1 in which the firstsection has a lateral guide and support means extending along its rearedge, wherein the improvement comprises extending said lateral guide andsupport means beyond said third side substantially to the opposite sidewall for providing an extended sliding support for said second shelfsection.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,010,927 8/ 1935 Paulus 312-l2,178,511 10/1939 Kucher 312351 X 2,285,701 6/1942 DOlive et :11.

2,717,189 9/1955 Teague et al 31235l 3,264,049 8/1966 Peterson 312304DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner.

JAMES T. MCCALL, Examiner.

1. A STORAGE CABINET INCLUDING UPRIGHT SIDE AND UPRIGHT REAR WALLS ANDUPPER AND LOWER WALLS ENCLOSING A STORAGE COMPARTMENT, SAID CABINETHAVING A FRONT DOOR OPENING AND A FRONT DOOR FOR CLOSING SAID DOOROPENING, A FIRST RECTANGULAR HORIZONGAL SHELF SECTION LOCATED INSIDE THESTORAGE COMPARTMENT HAVING ONE SIDE THEREOF SUPPORTED BY THE ADJACENTSIDE WALL OF SAID CABINET AND HAVING ITS REAR SIDE SUPPORTED BY THE REARWALL OF THE CABINET, A SECOND RECTANGULAR HORIZONTAL SELF SECTION, SAIDFIRST SELF SECTION HAVING LATERAL GUIDE AND SUPPORT MEANS FOR SUPPORTINGAND GUIDING SAID SECOND SELF SECTION FOR LATERAL MOVEMENT TOWARD ANDAWAY FROM THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF SAID STORAGE COMPARTMENT, SAID FIRSTSHELF SECTION ALSO HAVING A THIRD SIDE ADJACENT THE MIDDLE OF SAIDCABINET, WHEREIN THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISES A BRACKET EXTENDING FROM ANDSUPPORTED BY THE REAR WALL AND EXTENDING ABOVE AND ALONG THE EDGE OFSAID THIRD SIDE AND CONNECTED TO SAID THIRD SIDE FOR SUPPORTING SAIDTHIRD SIDE AND FOR PROVIDING A RAIL EXTENDING ABOVE SAID FIRST SHELFSECTION FOR PREVENTING ARTICLES FROM FALLING OFF THE EDGE OF SAID THIRDSIDE.